Let's talk about pillow making. With so much information available online these days, I can see where someone getting into the soft furnishings/workroom business may get confused on fabrication techniques. Today, let's talk about pillow making. Specifically how to sew the corners of pillows. Do you taper the corners of the pillows to [...]
Drapery panels at 25 widths each? Have you ever been asked to make a really wide drapery panel? What did you do? Did you turn and run the other way? Or did you accept the drapery panel project and then wonder how you were going to tackle the job? I was recently hired to [...]
Working with difficult fabrics can be challenging and stressful unless you first determine your course of action. This is the second edition of working with difficult fabrics. I'll show you how I used upholstery weight silk velvet to make narrow bands on silk taffeta panels. Now these are two fabrics that couldn't be more incompatible. [...]
Have you ever had to work with difficult fabrics? If you've been sewing for any length of time, you probably have. You know the ones. The slippery fabrics that move around the table by themselves. Or the loosely woven fabrics that begin to fray the moment you begin cutting. Or fabrics with a nap, such as velvet, where special [...]
When making multi width drapery panels, adding an interlock stitch at the seams will help keep the seams lined up as they hang. Without this stitch the fabric layers may shift making the draperies look untidy or messy. Sewing the interlock stitch is quick and easy when using your thumb to pinky measurement. Here are [...]
Fabric arriving at Designs by Donna is checked in and inspected as soon as it arrives. Doing so may avoid delays with the project if any flaws, inconsistencies in the repeat, or wrong yardage amounts are found upon inspection. And the same is true for drapery hardware received. Check-in fabric and hardware as soon as it arrives. [...]
What do sewing thread and spices have in common? Nothing really. Other than when your sewing thread and spices are organized it is easier to find what you are looking for, making you more efficient at what you are doing. Organizing sewing thread by color and type, like alphabetizing your spices, allows you to quickly find [...]